My apologies if it looked like I had missed/was ignoring this. I wanted to have time to read through properly.
Firstly, many thanks for your comments.
carlisimo109 wrote:
I think we might be able to generate more discussion about certain topics if we merged some of the less-often used boards together. To put it another way, I think the ghost town feel in some of them discourages conversation and is easily avoided.
What about the following layout?
News:
Tactical Command Updates
Tournaments, Conventions, and Meet-ups
imo, Wargaming Web News is redundant and should be covered by the Other Scale Wargames and Other Wargames Miniatures boards. Should we merge those last two together? It’s tempting, but we’re used to separate sections for games and minis so that might be going too far.
I have to balance the structure of this place which often pulls in two different directions. Firstly, as you say, a multitude of unused boards is often worse than relatively few, higher traffics ones. This is why we have a policy here of only creating a couple of 'sample boards' for each section, and new boards springing up as and when there is sufficient traffic for them. However, in opposition to that, there is a direction and heading that I have for this place (I know, an actual plan.... sometimes, even I dont believe it!).
I take your point about the 'WWN' board, and partially agree with you. A lot of the traffic and posts
could be moved to other boards. The original plan for this board was to bring in rumours and news from outside sources, or talk about updates in online stores, or other sites, but in practice these are often game-centric or mini-centric posts and could therefore be shift to this relevant section and potentially be more suited there.
The individual sections for miniature lines and games is something that is a real double edged sword for me. I like the distinction, and I think for this kind of hobby its an extremely useful - if not essential - one. Where we have, for example, DRM minis being used for Epic games it becomes very useful for Epic players to be able to talk about the DRM miniatures without the confusion of the SoW game rules discussion. However, there are considerable difficulties with this too, for example where the mini line and rules are so intertwined that it becomes difficult to separate them out, for example Exodus Wars being in the 'rules' section rather than the miniature section, despite conversation there being almost entirely about their miniature range (that decision was made in anticipation of their new rules system coming out, and Tom wanting to keep their current customer base informed. Ideally, I would like to split this at a later date and restore both harmony and my own inner OCD!).
carlisimo109 wrote:
Army Scale Wargames:
I say we merge all the different settings together, give active games a board of their own, and have a General Army Scale board for all others. I don’t want to be mean and suggest that some current game-specific boards be removed, but the less active ones would probably get more exposure if they were in the General Army Scale board. (For example, Seeds of War was active in 2013 but the only posts in 2014 were asking if there was any news.) The General board would gain momentum and viewers because sci-fi, fantasy, historical, modern, and alternate history would be combined. That’s five boards that currently have 13 threads with posts from this year.
Incidentally, Dropzone Commander and Dystopian Wars have a lot more presence in local stores than any of the games that get their own boards – do we not have any players here? I guess they have their own communities.
This is where the 'future plan' thing starts to come in to play. At its heart, this board - and the eventual return of the site (yeah, THAT future!) - is and will always be, a 6mm army scale web site, with a particular preference for science fiction. Partly, thats by my design (6mm and army scale being 'my thing'), and partly thats just how its turned out (science fiction, as a hangover from its Epic roots).
As such, the 'Science Fiction Army Scale Wargames' section is actually a template for how I would like the entire forum to look... But with more traffic. In addition, the oldest post (at the time of writing) is Oct 2014, and while that is four months ago, I dont consider that
too bad (although I do take the point that Warmaster was July of last year!).
What you suggest of 'merging all games together and giving active games a board of their own' is actually exactly what I am doing. The only difference is that the current scheme keeps the separation between the types of game, that I think will be essential when (not if!
) this place picks up in traffic and more boards are added and frequented.
All of that said, I am open to retiring boards that are no longer used, in the same way that I am open to adding new ones as needed, and would prefer this to a restructure.
There are several games that
should be a lot more popular here than they currently are - DZC, Dystopian Wars, a variety of ancients games, and I suspect that either established communities already exist for these, or they never really 'spoke' to the stereotypical Epic gamer, which is where the sites core audience is from. That said, I am very keen on pushing this site towards a more general 'army scale wargame' remit, but it is a slow process.
carlisimo109 wrote:
Wargames Miniatures and Terrain:
I’d go with:
EpiCompetitions
Tale of Epic Gamers
6mm
Other Wargames Miniatures (roll 2mm and 10mm into here)
Casting, Sculpting, and Creating Miniatures
Terrain
If I were a hardliner I’d merge ToEG and 6mm because the threads are pretty similar (you could just add “ToEG 201x” to your thread title), but the two boards get enough traffic that they don’t need to be messed with.
6mm Miniatures Lines:
Is it awkward to have these separated from the Army Scale Wargames section? Companies like DRM have their own rules system so they’re in that section, but a lot of us use them as if they belonged in this section. Maybe this section makes more sense above Wargames Miniatures and Terrain, adjacent to Army Scale Wargames? Or maybe not, because in this location it’s closer to the Casting, Sculpting, and Creating Miniatures and Terrain boards, which are undoubtedly related. Maybe we just leave it as it is.
I think that the ToEG board benefits from having a dedicated space, but I will admit that as someone thinking about setting up my own blog thread as I get into both DZC and a new Epic army, I have gone back and forth on where to post it. In the end, I will just put up a more general painting thread in the general section, as I cant commit to a monthly quota. I think that the ToEG needed its own space a lot more when it was a more structured event. When we had a defined start and end date, a monthly quota for all to meet, and an end of month round-up of participants progress, having its own dedicated board was really a bonus. I am honestly unsure if it is still such a requirement, but seeing as how the ToEG thread may now include miniatures and projects from any scale, not just 6mm, and that both it and the 6mm painting boards get considerable traffic, I am uncertain about messing with the system unless I really am sure that I want to.
I think that the only change that you suggest is the merging of the 2mm and 10mm boards in with the 'other miniatures'. I can see your point here, especially with the 2mm board! In my mind, the 'other miniatures' board was set up for 15mm and above, and for those side projects that are not the core of the site here but we all have. For example, aside from DZC and Epic, I am also throwing together some SSU Dust forces, and I want to share any progress with the people here too.
I could merge the two boards into a '2mm and 10mm miniatures' but that seems awkward to have two scales either side of 6mm which share a board..... I am not sure on the best course of action for this one. Perhaps simple dropping the 2mm board would work, but then its the only 'army scale miniatures' range that doesnt have a board....
Your thought process on the 6mm company/mniature lines reflects my own. Ideally, I would be happy to open boards for any 6mm (or other army scale) company that would like a home here. I even asked certain companies (GZG, Irregular, etc) if they wanted space for a forum here. Personally, I think that it would give them the ability to interact with customers and potential customers - and the community here are exactly the people who would buy their stuff - without having to worry about maintenance and admin of their own web space and forum, so it would be win-win, but I can understand that many companies either dont see a need for a forum, or cant commit to posting more here and keeping up with yet another thing to have to update, or would want to do this themselves so that they had more control over everything.
My end goal here is to have a place where passionate enthusaists and players of army scale games (10mm, 6mm and smaller) can meet and chat, and interact with the established miniature and games companies, and new sculptors and model makers and rules writers can get feedback on what they do. I dont think that there is currently a hub for interaction between army scale game players out there, and especially not one that brings in the companies as well.... But, thats, my long term goal.
carlisimo109 wrote:
Wargames Discussion:
Other Scale Wargames
Wargames Trades
Trade Site Notices (would these threads work in the Wargames Trades board?)
General Discussion (remove “wargames” from the title so it’s not confused with the Other Scale Wargames board – and merge Historical Discussion into here)
These seem pretty sensible to me. I am disappointed that the 'historical discussion' board didnt take off as I had planned, but thats how it all goes down sometimes. I do think that keeping the 'trade' and 'trade site' boards distinct at this time is a good thing. But, I admit that this is a personal opinion.
carlisimo109 wrote:
NetEA Development
I wouldn’t dare mess with this section…
You and me both!
Thanks for your comments.
